Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says that Donald Trump should not be criticized for raising questions about a Latino judge’s impartiality in a lawsuit accusing the mogul of fraud in his Trump University program.

Gonzales, who served as White House counsel and U.S. attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, said that while a judge should not be questioned about his ability or integrity based on race or ethnicity alone, Trump does have basis for concern about Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s ability to treat him fairly.

Unlike many other prominent Republicans who have denounced Trump's comments about Curiel, in a recent Washington Post op-ed, Gonzales said the California-based federal judge has had ties to organizations [TM edit: La Raza] that appear to have taken clear positions on immigration and even on Trump himself.

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“I’m not supporting Donald Trump’s comments,” he said Monday on CNN. "I didn’t write what I wrote in support of his comments. I didn’t write what I wrote in support of the notion that the judge should be recused solely on his race.”

Gonzales added, “I wrote to say Donald Trump, like every litigant in the United States, has the right to a fair trial before an impartial judge.”

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Gonzales said, Trump has the right as any other American to raise concerns about the appearance of unfairness or bias.

“Equally important, if not more important from my perspective as a former judge and U.S. attorney general, is a litigant’s right to a fair trial,” Gonzales wrote. “If judges and the trials over which they preside are not perceived as being impartial, the public will quickly lose confidence in the rule of law upon which our nation is based.”

Trump has said that Curiel belongs to various Latino organizations, including La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, that are affiliated with other groups that oppose Trump as well as strict immigration policies.

“These circumstances, while not necessarily conclusive, at least raise a legitimate question to be considered,” wrote Gonzales, who had endorsed John Kasich in the GOP primary before the Ohio governor dropped out of the race.

Quote: PzLdr wrote in post #2The standard has always been [at least when I was in the trade], NOT "impropriety", but "the appearance of impropriety". This judge should have recused himself from the 'git go'.

Yet the press and Uniparty crowd of weak-kneed R's like nothing better than to taint Trump, stoking the fires with their straw man construct of racism.

ZitatYet the press and Uniparty crowd of weak-kneed R's like nothing better than to taint Trump, stoking the fires with their straw man construct of racism

Yes, it has been interesting to see how the GOPe has jumped on Trump's words as evidence he's practically an Exalted Cyclops of the KKK, despite the fact this judge has a questionable background when it comes to Trump and should have, as PzLdr stated, recused himself at the start.